MESMERIC FEATS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 76, 18 May 1880, Page 3

MESMERIC FEATS.

The London Daily Telegraph remarks:—"Strange Btories reach us from India of the feats performed by a native mesmeriser, named Buni, L-VrhosG magnetic power would appear %nfc<vbo found quite irresistible by the lower animals, upon which he exclusively exerts it. He gives seances, to which the public are invited to bring all manner of ferocious and untameable wild beasts, and,like the Ancient Mariner, he holds them with bfs glittering eye. In a few seconds th«>y subside into a condition of cataleptic stiffness, from which they can only be revived by certain ' passes' which he solemnly executes wiih his right hand An account of one of these seances states that a snake in a state of violent irritation was brought to Buni by a menagerie proprietor, enclosed in a wooden cage. When deposited on the platform it was writhing and hissing fiercely. Buni bent over the cage, and fixed his eye upon its occupant, gently waring his hand over tho serpent's restless head. In less than a minute the snake stretched itself out, stiffened, and lay appar ently dead. Buni took it up, and several needles into its body, but it gave no sign of life. A few ' passes ' then restored it to its former angry activity. Subsequently a savage dog, held in a leash by its owner, was brought in, and at BuniV command let loose upon him. As it was rushing furiously towards him raised his hand, and in a second the fierco brute dropped upon its belly as though striken by lightning. It | seemed absolutely paralysed by some unknown agency, and was unable to move a muscle until released from the inagnetieer's spell by a majestic wave of his hand.